Offline
by ittykat
Summary: Pre-series. Nikita's tracking signal goes offline during a vital moment in a mission. Birkhoff is left with a difficult decision.


**Title:** Offline  
**Fandom:** Nikita  
**Rating:** G  
**Characters:** Birkhoff, Percy, Roan, Michael, Nikita  
**Summary:** Pre-series. Nikita's tracking signal goes offline during a vital moment in a mission. Birkhoff is left with a difficult decision.

Written as a mini prezzie for my bff **heywilma** who requested Nikita suddenly going MIA on a mission pre-show.

It's just one of those things. He blinks, and the signal is gone. Just like that. As though she was never even there.

"What just happened?" Percy barks from right beside him, and Birkhoff shoots the quickest of looks up at him, gauging the reaction as best he can, but he seems as genuinely shocked as Birkhoff is.

"I don't know, sir." He says, and starts tapping frantic commands into the tracking program he's running. "We've lost Nikki's signal." Text alerts pop up in the corner of his screen, advising him the quick diagnostic he ran is clean, the problem isn't technical, it isn't on their end. On a normal op she'd be micced or wired into the comm feed and he'd just call to check-in, but their target was notoriously paranoid and she'd been dark the entire mission.

He presses the comm down and speaks calmly into the microphone: "Anyone got eyes on Nikki?"

Roan is the first to respond. "Negative."

"No." Michael responds next. "Why?"

"Her tracker has gone offline." Birkhoff says, maintaining a cool facade of professionalism. "It could be a glitch, we can't be sure unless we get a look at her whether it's going to be a problem or not."

"She's been with Kulchenko for a few hours now. Maybe he's taken her downstairs?" Michael offers, and Birkhoff can hear the concern there, but with Percy standing just beside him he can't offer much in the way of comfort. All he can do is his job, and keep the sassy remarks to a minimum.

He quickly pulls up the schematics of Kulchenko's mansion, it's sprawling place, very ergonomic and low set, and given the climate there in Georgia, the architect didn't seem to have felt the need to include a basement. "No basement, cellar, or anything else built underground as far as I can tell." Birkhoff reports back. "And the latest soil survey for the area indicates it's mostly bedrock up there- he wouldn't be able to put in anything like that without causing a lot of fuss."

"Michael." Percy says finally, eyes darting between the display screens in the command centre. "Did she give you the detonator before you separated?"

"Yes," The man replies, though there is hesitation there.

Percy slips his hands into his pockets and continues on: "And Roan, you can confirm she entered the premises?"

Roan replies, "Yes sir."

"Then blow it." Percy says. "This is our chance, we can't wait any longer."

"But sir-" Michael says,

"_Blow it_." Percy insists, and slams his hand down on the comm unit and Birkhoff flinches, but their connection to the two remaining operatives is offline once more.

Percy turns to him now, and Birkhoff pales.

"Can you activate that trigger remotely?" He asks, and Birkhoff blinks at the question, and the question that Percy is _actually_ asking him: _Would you activate that trigger remotely?_.

Birkhoff breaks gaze, and turns back to the computer in front of him. "I can try." He stammers, thinking to himself that Percy is right, Michael won't be able to do it until he knows Nikki is clear. And maybe Birkhoff _could_ hack the signal from this distance and get remote access. It's his tech, he designed the trigger and the protocols, and while he designed them to be complex, he knows the ins and outs.

"Do it." Percy demands, and Birkhoff begins typing, reluctantly, knowing that if he were to disobey this order it would not end well for him, but he doesn't have much of a choice. Percy can be ruthless, and doesn't take insubordination lightly. But Birkhoff knows he's valuable to the man, and none of the other techies would have a hope in hell trying to do what's been asked of him, so he has that in his corner, at least.

But could he really _do_ that? Could he kill Nikki? He has made calls like this before, he should be able to compartmentalise this decision, get the work done, do the job, collect the paycheck at the end of the day, understanding that he's doing good work, and that sometimes sacrifices have to be made.

_Nerd_. She calls him that over the comms, but unlike every other jerk who's called him that (or worse) over the years, she says it with a hint of fondness. Like he's the little brother she's always wanted in her life, even though he's older than her by a good five years.

He extracts the transmission signal of the trigger from the buzz of static in the area and isolates it on his screen. It's a cake walk from here on out, really. Once he matches the frequency he can override the manual action and regain control here in central command. But he glances up at the map screen, and sees the two little blips of Roan and Michael, both at opposite ends of the screen, providing their cover on site, and he hesitates, and Percy looks down at him...

Then the reserve comm channel comes alive, scaring the crap out of him, and he jumps a little in his seat.

"Trinity here, Alice is down the rabbit hole." Nikita says, voice gravelly and tired. "Heading to the extraction point."

Birkhoff can't help the smile on his face. "Acknowledged." He reports into the comm, and he is oddly light-headed, heart pounding hard in his chest. Birkhoff reactivates the main comm line and links the two together. "White Rabbit has made contact." He announces to Roan and Michael. "Mad Hatter's tea party is a go."

"Acknowledged." Michael says, and Roan echoes it a moment later.

"Good to see you back, White Rabbit." Birkhoff says, "You went darker than we wanted. You had me thinking you'd gone rogue."

The joke feels stiff and stilted, but inappropriate jokes are his norm, and there is something comforting in the dry laugh that echoes back at him.

"Not today, Birkhoff." She says. "Not today."


End file.
